Jacks v. State

Decision Date03 October 1978
Docket Number5 Div. 409
Citation364 So.2d 397
PartiesRobert Andrew JACKS, alias v. STATE.
CourtAlabama Court of Criminal Appeals

J. Louis Wilkinson, of Wilkinson, Purvis & Pickard, Birmingham, for appellant.

William J. Baxley, Atty. Gen. and Mary Jane LeCroy, Asst. Atty. Gen., for the State, appellee.

BOWEN, Judge.

On May 30, 1977, Dr. Farris Walker, a dentist in Auburn, Alabama, was reported missing. His automobile and some of his clothing were gone. Several small spots of blood splattered his bedroom and his bed had been stripped of all linen. Forty-five days later Dr. Walker's badly decomposed body was found partially concealed in a wooded area near Cook's Landing in Lee County, Alabama. Twenty-five year old Randy Jacks was indicted and convicted for the murder of the Auburn dentist. A jury fixed sentence at life imprisonment.

Only two issues are presented on appeal: (1) Whether Cash, the only eyewitness to the murder, was an accomplice and (2) if so, whether his testimony was corroborated and therefore sufficient to sustain the conviction.

In the Fall of 1974, Randy and Susie Jacks moved to Auburn where Randy attended college. They met Farris Walker, a dentist, and became friends. They even lived in his house for a couple of weeks. In July, 1975, Walker was divorced from his wife.

Fearing that his wife was having a romantic affair with Dr. Walker, Jacks separated from his wife in November of 1976. Randy and Susie Jacks obtained a divorce on the day of Walker's death.

Jacks made threats against Walker's life to his roommate, Billy Joe Sublett and Dale Parkman, Sublett's girlfriend. Jacks told Walker's ex-wife that he had thought about killing Walker but hadn't "for two reasons and those two reasons are your two children".

Jacks also discussed killing Dr. Walker with a friend, Gary Cash. Cash and Jacks discussed murdering Dr. Walker "40 or 50 or 60 times". Cash testified that

"Whenever we would talk about killing Dr. Walker, it would be when Randy was depressed about the situation or whatever and it was, you might say, a way of relieving hostilities to psychologically cope with the situation."

To help "more or less settle him down", Cash would add to the conversations and actually thought up some ways to kill Walker. They discussed various methods of committing the murder; "just lots of ways, all of them stemmed around what we thought we could get our hands on and the opportunity at the time". They also discussed various methods of disposing of the body. Cash testified that he "really didn't want to kill Dr. Walker" and never thought that Jacks was going to actually carry out any of these threats.

Together Jacks and Cash would drive to the trailer where Susie was living to see if Walker's automobile was parked outside. They would also drive by Walker's home.

Although Cash testified that he never actually went on Walker's property or in his house before May 30, 1977, he stated that on some occasions they would stop and get out and Jacks would walk up to the house. On these occasions Jacks wore green Army fatigues.

"Whenever he would go up to the house, he would carry numerous things, a knife, rope, and that sort of things."

"Gloves, screwdrivers, pair of pliers, some poison, some chloroform."

Cash stated that they never went to Walker's house to kill him on any occasion prior to May the 30th. Their purpose for going there was just to see who was there; "just because the car wasn't there didn't mean that Susie wasn't".

Around 3:30 on the Monday morning of May 30, 1977, Cash parked his pickup truck three blocks from Dr. Walker's house. Jacks had changed into his fatigues while Cash had been driving. Jacks also had his attache case where Cash knew he kept his .22 revolver with the homemade silencer and some tools.

Jacks, who had only been notified on Sunday afternoon that the hearing on his divorce was set for Monday morning, told Cash that "he was going to Court the next day and he wanted to go in and to see if Susie was there in the house". Jacks did not tell Cash that he intended to kill Walker and Cash testified that he did not know that Jacks was carrying the revolver.

Once at the house, Jacks disconnected the telephone lines. Jacks then took off his shoes and put on a pair of rubber surgical gloves. With Cash's assistance, he climbed through a kitchen window. Cash then went to each side of the house to see if any lights had come on in the neighboring houses.

Jacks opened a side door and motioned for Cash to enter. Cash testified that he did not know why he entered the house; "My better judgment told me not to but I don't know". Jacks warned Cash about a step that squeaked on the stairs.

Jacks started up the stairs and Cash followed. When Cash arrived at the top of the stairs Jacks was at the foot of Walker's bed. Cash stopped in the doorway. Jacks took a step or two and Cash saw a shadow rise up in the bed and state, "Randy, are you crazy?" Cash then heard a gunshot and saw the muzzle flash. Only later did he see the .22 equipped with a silencer.

After being shot, Walker mumbled and fell back in bed. Jacks immediately jumped on top of Walker and a slight struggle ensued. Jacks then "backed off" the bed and turned on a bedside lamp. Walker was lying on his back with a disposable diaper stuck in his mouth. Jacks took some bloody pillows and put them in the middle of the bed. He grabbed some of the bedclothing and pulled Walker off the foot of the bed positioning Walker so that he was sitting on the floor with his head leaning forward. Cash still had not moved from the doorway or said anything. He testified that "it happened so fast and it was like a nightmare--it's something that's hard to really grasp and I was just petrified".

Jacks took a piece of white ski rope and strangled Walker. Cash then walked into the room and helped Jacks clean up. Cash stated that he did this because "it was nothing else for me to do. I was there. I was an accessory." Cash stated that they had not discussed the particular method by which Walker was actually killed and that prior to the time the gun was fired he did not know that Jacks was going to kill Walker.

Together they cleaned up the bedroom and carried Walker's body downstairs and placed it in Dr. Walker's Fiat automobile which was parked under the carport. Cash then went to his truck and Jacks drove the Fiat toward Phenix City. Before they reached Phenix City they transferred the body and the bloody bed linen and the fatigues that Jacks had been wearing into the back of Cash's pickup truck which had a camper shell. Jacks then drove to Phenix City and left the Fiat in the parking lot of a Holiday Inn. Cash followed and picked him up.

The pair drove toward Lake Harding and disposed of the body near Cook's Landing. The pistol was thrown into the lake by Jacks. They returned to Cash's trailer around 9:00 that morning and Jacks went to class. Cash then drove down the highway and placed the three plastic trash bags containing the bed linen and clothes in separate dumpsters.

On Wednesday, two days after the murder, Cash and Jacks were interviewed by the Auburn Police Department. Previously the two men had made up a story to account for their time. Seven weeks after the murder Cash began to relate parts of the crime to the police. Cash never revealed the entire truth of the murder until after he was granted immunity from prosecution though that immunity was conditioned on Cash telling the whole and complete truth. Eventually Cash led the police to Walker's body. The next day Jacks was arrested for the murder of Dr. Walker.

In a voluntary statement given to Detective Roy Plant of the Auburn Police Department before he was arrested Jacks admitted being with Cash from 2:00 until 8:00 on the morning of May 30th. He maintained that he and Cash stopped at the Ridgewood Trailer Park in Auburn and talked for about an hour. When they were ready to leave the truck would not start so they sat and talked from 4:00 A.M. until 8:00 A.M., when they were able to "crank" the truck and return to Cash's trailer.

Detective Lieutenant Ted Murphy took charge of the investigation into Walker's disappearance. After Cash showed Murphy the location of Walker's body, a warrant was issued for Jacks' arrest. On July 15, 1977, Randy Jacks was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama, for the murder of Dr. Walker. On the trip back to Auburn Jacks was advised of his constitutional rights and voluntarily waived them. Detective Murphy said, "Randy, you don't appear in any way to be sorry that you killed Walker". Jacks responded, "I am sorry the man is dead. I'm glad you found the body for the sake of the family." Jacks also stated that he knew they would come after him if they ever found the body.

At the Auburn Police Department, Jacks was again advised of his constitutional rights and signed a waiver of rights form. Though he would not make a statement, he requested pencils and paper, stating that he would give a statement later as to what happened in Walker's home on the morning of May 30th. Jacks stated that he needed to go to sleep and needed time to collect his thoughts. The interview was ended and Jacks was taken to his cell.

That afternoon Jacks was taken to Murphy's office. He was again advised of his rights and again signed a waiver of rights form. Detective Murphy testified that Jacks then told him that

"I want you to understand I never went to that house with intention of killing Dr. Walker. I will give you a statement as to what happened in Walker's bedroom that night and when I tell you, it will seem so unreal, you won't believe it; but I have to get it straight in my own head first and if you will give me some more paper or some paper and pens, I could write it all out in my cell."

Though Jacks never gave a statement he never denied killing Walker. The voluntariness and admissibility of his remarks to the officers of the Auburn Police Department...

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